Location: The main land of lndia extends between 8°4’ N to 37°6’N latitude and 68° 7’ E to 97°23 E longitude. The latitudinal and longitudinal extent of lndia is around 30° The country stretches to 3214 km from North to South and 2933 km from West to East. The northern tip of India is recognized as ‘Indira Col’ in Jammu & Kashmir while, the southern tip (main land) is ‘Kanyakumari’ or ‘Cape Camorin’ in Tamilnadu. In the same way the western and eastern tips of the country are ‘Rann of Kutch’ in Gujarat and ‘Luhit’ in Arunachal Pradesh respectively.
The territorial limit of lndia extends up to 6° 45’ N latitude. ‘Indira point’ situated at this latitude in Great Nicobar Islands. As a peninsular country India has both land and water frontiers. The total length of land frontier of the country is 15,200 km. The mainland of the country has a coast line of 6,100 km including the islands. The total length of the coast line of the country is about 7516 km. The territorial water extends into the sea to a distance of 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from the coastal baseline.
India is a peninsula, located at the north tip of the Indian Ocean. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea in the west, Indian Ocean in the south and Bay of Bengal in the east and covered by land in the north – China, Nepal, Bhutan etc.
The Tropic of Caner 23 1/2° N latitude passes through the middle of lndia and divides the country into almost two equal halves. Indian Standard Time – 82 1/2° E longitude passes through the middle of India (through Allahabad) is recognized as standard longitude of the country two keep standard time.
Size: India is the 7th largest country in the world next to Russia, Canada, China, USA, Brazil and Australia. It has a total geographical area of 32, 87,263 sq.km. This constitutes about 2.4% of the total land area of the Earth. India is the second most populous country in the world next to China. According to 2011 census the total population of the country was 121.6 crore which accounts for about 17.45% of the total world’s population. India has 28 states, 6 union territories and one national capital region (New Delhi).
Frontiers: India has 15,200 km long land frontier extending from west to east running from Gujarat in the west to West Bengal in the east. The Himalayas for a natural boundary in the north, between India and China. Similarly, Thar Desert in the west & northwest and eastern hills acts as boundary between India & Pakistan and India & Myanmar respectively. India share land frontier with seven countries, they are Pakistan and Afghanistan to the northwest, China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the-East.
The important international boundary lines demarcated between India and neighbouring countries are:
The Durand line- India and Afghanistan (80Km) by Mortimer Durand The Me Mahon line- India and China (PRC) (3488Km) by Henry Me Mahon. The Radcliff line – India and Pakistan (2910km) by Sir Cyril Radcliff. India and Bangladesh (4097km).
Sri Lanka, an island country, situated to the southeast, is separated by Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar.
